A Night Raid on the Branch Hall, Han Su Forced to Confess

The carriage rolled into Suotuo City as the city gates' lamps blazed to life.

Wind swept in from the street corner, making the carriage curtains flap.

Xiao Wu held the little girl in her arms, still nestled in the lingering warmth of Su Chen's embrace. The heat in her cheeks hadn't faded. She'd meant to act as if nothing had happened, but as soon as the carriage stopped and she heard the footsteps of the Legal Department and the branch hall guards outside, her jumbled thoughts were instantly shoved aside.

They weren't going back to sleep tonight.

They were here to raid the place.

Shen Zhi swung down from his horse and raised a hand.

"Seal off the street."

"Without my warrant, not even a fly leaves the branch hall tonight."

"Yes, sir!"

At his command, the Legal Department's people immediately fanned out.

The clank of armor spread through the night. The shops lining both sides of the street quickly shut their doors and windows, and the few taverns where lights still flickered fell completely silent.

Anyone could tell.

Something big was going to happen tonight.

Su Chen first handed the boy in his arms to a healing Deacon, then took the little girl from Xiao Wu. The girl had been clutching Xiao Wu's sleeve and refusing to let go, but when she met Su Chen's cold, heavy gaze, which held not a trace of malice, she actually calmed down a little.

Su Chen handed her to a female Deacon and spoke quietly.

"Take her to the back hall. Treat her injuries first, then give her some warm water."

"Don't let anyone near her."

"Understood."

With her arms suddenly empty, Xiao Wu felt a little awkward.

Especially when Su Chen turned to look at her.

His gaze was faint, as if he were checking whether she could still hold up.

She immediately straightened her back.

"What are you looking at? I'm fine."

Su Chen gave a soft acknowledgment.

"Then don't let your legs give out later."

Xiao Wu exploded on the spot.

"Su Chen!"

As her voice rose, Xu Tinglan turned her face away, as if she hadn't heard. Shen Zhi was even more obvious: he lowered his head to straighten his cuffs, pretending to be busy.

Xiao Wu's ears flared hot again.

That bastard was definitely doing it on purpose.

But she couldn't exactly argue with him.

After all that ferocious fighting in Desolate Ditch, and then being carried all the way back by him, her thighs were still sore and her breathing hadn't quite settled.

But she'd never admit it.

"You'd better take care of yourself later."

"If that old bastard Han Su dares to run his mouth tonight, I'll be the first to kick his teeth in."

Su Chen glanced at her, the corner of his mouth twitching faintly.

"Sure."

"I'll save you one."

Xiao Wu had still been simmering with anger, but his reply caught her off guard.

She was getting more and more annoyed by the way he acted.

He never said anything serious, yet somehow every line played right into her temper, leaving her too flustered to stay mad.

Ahead, the gates of the Suotuo Branch Hall had emerged from the night.

High walls, black tiles, and two stone beasts before the entrance, half-lit by the lamps.

Normally, the place carried an air of solemn authority.

Tonight, it looked like a face waiting to be torn open.

As soon as Shen Zhi reached the steps, a squad of guards rushed out from inside.

At their head was one of the branch hall's assistant stewards, a man surnamed Luo. He usually followed close behind Han Su and was especially skilled at reading which way the wind blew.

He rushed out, saw Su Chen first, then Shen Zhi, and nearly buckled at the knees.

"Lord Shen, Your Highness the Holy Son, is—is there some kind of misunderstanding—"

The moment he said "misunderstanding"—

Smack!

A copy of the External Transfer Original Ledger flew straight into his face.

The pages scattered and fluttered to the ground.

Shen Zhi's gaze was icy.

"Pick it up and read it yourself."

"Then tell me whether this is a misunderstanding, or whether your branch hall has been selling people like livestock and gotten a little too good at it."

Steward Luo's face turned deathly pale.

He dropped to his knees in a hurry, his knees slamming against the bluestone steps. His voice trembled.

"My lord, I didn't know. I really didn't know—"

By then, Su Chen had already stepped onto the stairs.

His black robe hem swept over the ground.

He didn't spare the man on the ground a glance, only looking toward the still-lit area deep inside the branch hall.

"Is Han Su inside?"

Steward Luo's forehead was slick with sweat.

"Yes, yes. He's discussing matters in the back hall—"

"Good."

Su Chen strode onward.

"Saves me the trouble of hunting him down."

The Legal Department and the Temple Knights filed in one after another.

The Deacons in the branch hall, who usually held their noses high in the air, were now panicking. Some tried to bolt through a side door, only to be pinned against a pillar as soon as they turned. Others tried to hide the account books but hadn't even managed to shut the cabinet before it was kicked over, sending them sprawling to the ground.

The branch hall was in complete chaos tonight.

Xiao Wu had been about to charge at the front, but after just two steps, Su Chen caught her wrist from behind.

She froze and turned to glare at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Stay with me."

Su Chen didn't let go. He pulled her to his side.

"There could be hidden doors and traps inside. Don't go running around."

Xiao Wu had been about to snap, "When do I ever run around?" But his palm rested against her wrist bone, its grip not tight, yet remarkably steady.

Her breath caught, and the rest of the retort stuck in her throat.

All that came out was stubborn defiance.

"It's not like I'm scared."

"I know."

Su Chen kept walking.

"I just don't want the hassle."

Xiao Wu was so mad she wanted to kick him, but she couldn't bring herself to pull her hand away.

In the end, she let him lead her along.

Xu Tinglan walked on the other side, quickly pointing out the locations of the storerooms and accounts rooms.

"The second room on the left is the accounts room. The room at the far end on the right is the seal room. There's a hidden door in the back hall that leads to the inner treasury."

"Han Su usually meets outsiders in the Bright Hall, but he really collects things and moves people around in the back."

"If he's going to destroy the records, he'll be heading for the inner treasury now."

"Then we'll go around back."

As soon as Su Chen spoke, he turned into the corridor.

They had just passed through a moon gate when a commotion of footsteps came from inside.

"Quick! Burn that ledger!"

"And the registry!"

"Lord Han said no one can be left alive tonight!"

Shen Zhi's eyes sharpened.

"Take them down!"

Both sides crashed together at once.

Scabbards thudded into flesh, tables and chairs toppled, and pages and shards of porcelain flew across the ground.

Xiao Wu finally had her chance.

She twisted her wrist and slipped free of Su Chen's palm, darting into the crowd like a streak of pink. She swept out a kick and knocked down a Deacon trying to light a fire. The fire starter flew from his hand and smashed against the wall.

"You want to burn it?"

"I'll burn the lesson into you first!"

She moved fast, and her temper moved faster.

As soon as she'd dropped one man, she seized another by the collar and flipped him over her shoulder. With a crash, he and the ledger he'd been holding smashed beneath a table.

Even Shen Zhi's eyelid twitched at the sight.

When this girl fought, she wasn't delicate in the slightest.

Su Chen was even more direct.

As soon as the Judgment Holy Sword appeared, the gloom in the entire back-hall corridor lifted.

A black-clad guard trying to escape through the hidden door had barely reached it when a golden light came slashing down, cleaving the entire door in two.

Wood splintered in an explosion.

The man froze in place, not daring to take another step.

Su Chen walked over and kicked the back of his knee.

"Kneel."

With a dull crack, the man's knees slammed into the ground. Tears sprang to his eyes from the pain, but he didn't dare cry out.

Because Han Su had already appeared behind the hidden door.

He was still wearing the gray-and-gold robe that marked him as the Vice Hall Master of the branch hall.

But now the hem was disheveled, and there was a smear of blood on his chest that he hadn't wiped clean. Clearly, ever since word had come back from that operation in Desolate Ditch, he hadn't been able to truly compose himself.

As soon as he emerged, he saw the wreckage strewn across the floor and his subordinates pinned down. His face darkened inch by inch.

At last, his gaze settled on Su Chen.

"Your Highness the Holy Son."

"You've surrounded my branch hall in the middle of the night and brought people in. Isn't that going too far?"

Su Chen looked at him.

"Your branch hall?"

"Do you still remember that this is a branch hall of the Spirit Hall, not the backyard of your Han family?"

Han Su's eyes darkened.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't?"

Xu Tinglan had already tossed the External Transfer Original Ledger at his feet.

"Then read it yourself."

"The carriage we intercepted tonight, the forged documents, the empty slots, and the later pages of the External Transfer Registry."

"Han Su, how long do you plan to keep pretending?"

Han Su glanced down at the ledger.

At a single look, the last trace of hope in his eyes vanished.

He knew he couldn't hide it anymore.

But at this point, he only became more ruthless.

"So what if you have all this? What does it prove?"

"External transfers at the Suotuo Branch Hall are complicated. It's inevitable that some people would use names to do business."

"At most, it means I failed to govern my subordinates properly."

"Failed to govern your subordinates properly?"

Xiao Wu had just pinned a struggling Deacon to the ground. Hearing this, she laughed in disbelief.

She stood up, kicked the man aside, and walked over to Han Su.

"You really have no shame."

"You've already loaded children onto a carriage, and you're still playing word games with us?"

"Do we have to tie you up in the carriage and drag you around before you'll admit it?"

Han Su's face turned green. He was just about to bark at her when a slap landed.

Smack!

It rang out loud and clear.

Xiao Wu had slapped him.

That slap landed hard, knocking half of Han Su's face askew.

The rear hall fell utterly silent.

Even the people from the Legal Department were stunned.

Shen Zhi hadn't expected Xiao Wu to dare slap him like that.

Xiao Wu shook out her wrist, her gaze icy.

"Weren't you just so good with words?"

"Go on, then."

Han Su clutched his face, his whole body rigid.

He had probably never imagined in his entire life that one day he'd be slapped in the face in public by a little girl.

The humiliation hurt more than the blow.

A vicious look suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he raised a hand to summon his Soul Power.

But the instant he moved, the Judgment Holy Sword was already at his throat.

An inch.

It was truly only an inch away.

The golden blade reflected in his pupils, exposing even the malice he'd tried to hide.

Su Chen stood before him, his voice calm and cold.

"Move again, and I'll pin your head to that pillar."

Han Su's back turned ice-cold.

It wasn't a threat.

He could tell Su Chen would really do it.

Ever since this Martial Soul Hall Holy Son arrived in Suotuo City, he hadn't played by any of the usual rules.

Zhou Ling couldn't hold him down.

Lu Qingci couldn't stop him.

Even he, a Vice Hall Master at the Soul King realm, was like a snake caught by the seven-inch spot in Su Chen's hands.

If he kept resisting, he'd only die more miserably.

Han Su's Adam's apple bobbed.

At last, he lowered his head.

"I failed to keep watch."

Xiao Wu immediately wanted to slap him again.

"Failed to keep watch, my—"

"No rush."

Su Chen raised a hand to stop her, but never took his eyes off Han Su.

"Don't you like playing by the rules?"

"Then tonight, we'll follow Spirit Hall's rules."

"Shen Zhi, take this down."

Shen Zhi immediately raised a hand, and the Legal Department staff opened their ledger.

Su Chen enunciated every word.

"Han Su, Vice Hall Master of Suotuo Branch Hall, secretly arranged external transfers, forged identity documents, misappropriated branch hall quotas, colluded with the Black Market, and was involved in abducting children. The evidence is conclusive."

"Effective tonight, he is suspended."

"Seal the warehouse."

"Arrest them."

Han Su snapped his head up.

"On what grounds do you—"

"On these grounds."

Su Chen flipped his wrist, bringing the Pope Token Deputy Plate right up before him.

"Still not enough?"

Han Su fell completely silent.

Once the deputy plate was shown, the matter ceased to be a scandal confined to Suotuo Branch Hall.

The higher-ups in Spirit Hall had taken over directly.

He was finished.

Shen Zhi strode forward and personally brought out the Soul-Locking Shackles.

Xu Tinglan stood to one side, her voice soft.

"Han Su."

"You've been entrenched in Suotuo City for years, thinking no one would dare touch you."

"But you forgot: when you reach too far, someone will eventually chop off your hand."

Han Su glared at her.

He made no effort to hide the hatred in his eyes.

But once the Soul-Locking Shackles were fastened, he couldn't even summon his Soul Power.

No matter how much he hated them, all he could do was let himself be pinned down.

Watching this, Xiao Wu finally felt most of the anger in her chest ease.

"Serves you right."

Just as she finished cursing, a Legal Department Deacon suddenly rushed in.

"Sir!"

"Someone tried to escape over the wall at the West Warehouse!"

"We've caught one carriage, but the other covered wagon is missing!"

The moment those words fell, tension seized the rear hall again.

Xu Tinglan's expression changed at once.

"Impossible. The West Warehouse has already been sealed—"

"You sealed the front entrance."

Su Chen looked at the pile of scattered papers on the ground, his expression darkening instantly.

"They left themselves a second route."

Shen Zhi's expression darkened too.

"Someone else is still sending people out?"

"More than that."

Xu Tinglan crouched and opened one of the thin ledgers. Her finger quickly stopped on two lines of ink.

"Three carriages for tonight's transfer."

"We intercepted one and caught one. The remaining carriage..."

She didn't finish.

Everyone understood.

There was another carriage.

Still on the road.

Xiao Wu's eyes turned cold.

"More children?"

Xu Tinglan pressed her lips together and nodded.

Xiao Wu had just been about to catch her breath, but those words sent the flames roaring up again.

"They're real beasts."

She turned to Su Chen.

"Are we still going after them?"

Su Chen looked at the two lines on the ground, his gaze sharp as a blade.

"We're going."

"Right now."

Shen Zhi immediately turned around.

"I'll gather people—"

"No need for a large force."

Su Chen cut him off.

"More people will only slow us down."

"You stay here and keep sealing off the branch hall. Steward Luo, Lu Ming, and Han Su—interrogate them separately."

"Xu Tinglan, you're coming with me."

"You know their alternate routes best."

"Xiao Wu."

Xiao Wu immediately looked up.

"Here."

"Come with me."

Just two words.

The fire in her chest and all the tangled warmth inside her suddenly twisted into a single force.

"Okay."

She answered at once.

Su Chen turned and headed outside. After two steps, he suddenly looked back at Han Su, pinned to the ground.

"Oh, right."

"Weren't you just asking me on what grounds?"

Han Su looked up, his face as deathly pale as a corpse.

Su Chen's gaze was cold and devoid of warmth.

"On the grounds that I'm standing here tonight."

"And you're only fit to lie face-down."

With that, he rushed out of the rear hall with Xiao Wu and Xu Tinglan.

The night wind struck them head-on.

Beyond the branch hall, lights and footsteps churned into chaos.

A light carriage had already been led to the foot of the steps by people from the Legal Department.

Xiao Wu was just about to climb aboard herself when she put strength into her bent knee. The soreness from the arena during the day and the battle that night surged up again, and her legs nearly gave way.

She cursed under her breath, about to grit her teeth and push through, when warmth spread across her waist.

Su Chen had already lifted her up in one swift motion.

"You—"

"Get in."

"I can do it myself—"

"Quit being stubborn."

Su Chen half-carried, half-lifted her into the carriage, then climbed in himself.

Xiao Wu had still wanted to glare at him, but the curtain fell, cutting off the lights outside. Suddenly, only their breathing and the far-too-close warmth between them remained in the carriage.

Her irritation dissolved all at once.

She could only grit her teeth and mutter a curse.

"Just wait until we get back from this trip."

Su Chen settled into his seat and casually shielded her against the carriage wall so she wouldn't get knocked when they set off.

"We'll talk when we get back."

Xu Tinglan climbed onto the driver's bench and flicked the reins.

The light carriage raced out of the branch hall.

The wheels left Suotuo City's night behind them.